Flexible display device including a sacrificial layer

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing a flexible display device includes forming a base substrate on a first sacrificial layer formed on a first supporting substrate, forming a display device array on the base substrate, forming a second sacrificial layer on a second supporting substrate, forming a touch array on the second sacrificial layer, adhering the first supporting substrate onto the second supporting substrate using an adhesive, irradiating laser energy onto the first sacrificial layer to remove the first sacrificial layer and separate the first supporting substrate from the base substrate, and irradiating laser energy onto the second sacrificial layer to separate interfaces of the second supporting substrate and the second sacrificial layer from each other, such that the second sacrificial layer is fixed on the touch array. The second sacrificial layer includes at least one of oxidized molybdenum, lead zirconate titanate, gallium nitride, and an amorphous silicon based inorganic material.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application based on application Ser. No.15/447,936, filed Mar. 2, 2017, the entire contents of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0026207, filed on Mar. 4, 2016, inthe Korean Intellectual Property Office, and entitled: “Flexible DisplayDevice and Method of Manufacturing the Same,” is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

Embodiments relate to a flexible display device and a method ofmanufacturing the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

A foldable or bendable flexible display device may have improvedportability. In the flexible display device, a flexible substrate withimproved flexibility is used. The flexible substrate may be formed ofplastic or resin.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are directed to a method of manufacturing a flexible displaydevice including forming a base substrate on a first sacrificial layerformed on a first supporting substrate, forming a display device arrayon the base substrate, forming a second sacrificial layer on a secondsupporting substrate, forming a touch array on the second sacrificiallayer, adhering the first supporting substrate onto the secondsupporting substrate using an adhesive, irradiating laser energy ontothe first sacrificial layer to remove the first sacrificial layer and toseparate the first supporting substrate from the base substrate, andirradiating laser energy onto the second sacrificial layer to separateinterfaces of the second supporting substrate and the second sacrificiallayer from each other and such that the second sacrificial layer isfixed on the touch array. The second sacrificial layer includes at leastone selected from the group of oxidized molybdenum (MoO₃), leadzirconate titanate (PZT), gallium nitride (GaN), and an amorphoussilicon (a-Si) based inorganic material.

The second sacrificial layer may be formed on the second supportingsubstrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method or a chemical vapordeposition (CVD) method.

A thickness of the second sacrificial layer may be 1,000 Å through 3,000Å.

The method may further include coating a protective layer onto thesecond sacrificial layer.

Coating the protective layer onto the second sacrificial layer may beperformed by an inkjet method.

The first sacrificial layer and the second sacrificial layer may includedifferent materials.

The base substrate may include one selected from the group ofpolyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethylene terephthalate (PET),polyethylene etherphthalate, polycarbonate, polyarylate, polyetherimide,polyether sulfonate, polyimide, and polyacrylate.

Forming the display device array may include forming a thin filmtransistor (TFT) on the base substrate, forming a first electrode on theTFT, forming an organic light emitting layer on the first electrode, andforming a second electrode on the organic light emitting layer.

Embodiments are also directed to a flexible display device including abase substrate, a display device array on a first surface of the basesubstrate, a first barrier layer on the display device array, a toucharray on the first barrier layer, an adhesive between the first barrierlayer and the touch array, and a sacrificial layer on the touch array.The sacrificial layer may include at least one selected from the groupof oxidized molybdenum (MoO₃), lead zirconate titanate (PZT), galliumnitride (GaN), and an amorphous silicon (a-Si) based inorganic material.

The touch array may include a first touch electrode that extends in afirst direction and a second touch electrode that extends in a seconddirection that intersects the first direction.

The display device array may include a TFT on the base substrate, afirst electrode on the TFT, an organic light emitting layer on the firstelectrode, and a second electrode on the organic light emitting layer.

The first barrier layer may include a first organic layer on the secondelectrode, a first inorganic layer on the first organic layer, a secondorganic layer on the first inorganic layer, and a second inorganic layerbetween the second organic layer and the adhesive.

The flexible display device may further include a third organic layer onthe sacrificial layer.

A thickness of the sacrificial layer may be 1,000 Å through 3,000 Å.

The flexible display device may further include a second barrier layerunder the base substrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features will become apparent to those of skill in the art by describingin detail exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a flexible display deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the flexible display deviceof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the display unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the touch unit of FIG. 2;and

FIGS. 5 through 12 illustrate cross-sectional views of stages of amethod of manufacturing a flexible display device according to anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings; however, they may be embodied indifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey exemplary implementations to those skilled in the art.

In the drawing figures, the dimensions of layers and regions may beexaggerated for clarity of illustration. It will also be understood thatwhen a layer or element is referred to as being “on” another layer orsubstrate, it can be directly on the other layer or substrate, orintervening layers may also be present. Further, it will be understoodthat when a layer is referred to as being “under” another layer, it canbe directly under, and one or more intervening layers may also bepresent. In addition, it will also be understood that when a layer isreferred to as being “between” two layers, it can be the only layerbetween the two layers, or one or more intervening layers may also bepresent. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a flexible display deviceaccording to an embodiment. FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view ofthe flexible display device of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates across-sectional view of the display unit of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 illustrates across-sectional view illustrating the touch unit of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, the flexible display device according tothe embodiment may be a rectangular plate having two pairs of sides thatrun parallel with each other. When the flexible display device is therectangular plate, one pair of sides of the two pairs of sides may belonger than the other pair of sides.

The flexible display device may include a display unit 100 fordisplaying an image and a touch unit 200 for recognizing a touch.

The display unit 100 may display arbitrary visual information, forexample, a text, a video, a picture, or a two-dimensional orthree-dimensional image. Hereinafter, the displayed arbitrary visualinformation is referred to as “an image”. A kind of the display unit 100as displaying the image is not limited thereto.

The display unit 100 may include a base substrate 120, a display devicearray 140 disposed on the base substrate 120, and a first barrier layer150 disposed on the display device array 140.

The base substrate 120 may be a plastic film formed of at least oneorganic material selected from polyethylene naphthalate (PEN),polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene etherphthalate,polycarbonate, polyarylate, polyetherimide, polyether sulfonate,polyimide, and polyacrylate.

A buffer layer 130 may be disposed between the base substrate 120 andthe display device array 140. The buffer layer 130 may improve adhesionbetween the display device array 140 and the base substrate 120 and mayhelp to prevent moisture or impurities generated by the base substrate120 from being diffused into the display device array 140. The bufferlayer 130 may be formed of a single layer of an inorganic insulatingmaterial such as oxide silicon (SiOx) and nitride silicon (SiNx) or adouble layer of oxide silicon (SiOx) and nitride silicon (SiNx).

A second barrier layer 110 may be disposed on a surface of the basesubstrate 120 opposite to a surface on which the display device array140 is arranged. The second barrier layer 110 may help to prevent oxygenand moisture from being received from the outside to a rear surface ofthe base substrate 120. The second barrier layer 110 may be a filmformed by coating an inorganic material as a single layer or as amultilayer on an organic material such that flexibility of the basesubstrate 120 may be secured.

The display device array 140 may be disposed on the base substrate 120with the buffer layer 130 interposed.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the display device array 140 may include athin film transistor (TFT) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED)electrically connected to the TFT.

For example, the TFT may include a semiconductor layer SM disposed onthe buffer layer 130, a gate electrode GE disposed on the semiconductorlayer SM, and a source electrode SE and a drain electrode DE disposed onthe gate electrode GE.

The semiconductor layer SM may be disposed on the buffer layer 130. Thesemiconductor layer SM may include one of amorphous silicon (a-Si),polycrystalline silicon (p-Si), and oxide semiconductor. Thesemiconductor layer SM may include a source region formed by doping orinjecting impurities into a region that contacts the source electrode SEand a drain region formed by doping or injecting impurities into aregion that contacts the drain electrode DE. A region between the sourceregion and the drain region may be a channel region.

A first insulating layer 141 may be disposed on the semiconductor layerSM. The first insulating layer 141 may cover the semiconductor layer SMand may insulate the semiconductor layer SM and the gate electrode GEfrom each other.

The gate electrode GE may be disposed on the first insulating layer 141to overlap the semiconductor layer SM. The gate electrode GE may includeat least one among aluminum (Al), an Al alloy, silver (Ag), tungsten(W), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), titanium(Ti), platinum (Pt), tantalum (Ta), neodymium (Nd), scandium (Sc), andan alloy of Ag, W, Cu, Ni, Cr, Mo, Ti, Pt, Ta, Nd, and Sc.

A second insulating layer 142 may be disposed on the gate electrode GE.The second insulating layer 142 may insulate the gate electrode GE andthe source and drain electrodes SE and DE from each other.

The source electrode SE and the drain electrode DE may be disposed onthe second insulating layer 142, spaced apart from each other by auniform distance. The source electrode SE may contact the source regionof the semiconductor layer SM, and the drain electrode DE may contactthe drain region of the semiconductor layer SM.

According to the current embodiment, the TFT is illustrated as having atop gate structure. In some implementations, the TFT may have a bottomgate structure.

A third insulating layer 143 may be disposed on the source electrode SEand the drain electrode DE. A portion of the third insulating layer 143may be removed such that a portion of the drain electrode DE is exposedto the outside. The third insulating layer 143 may be an organicprotective layer. The organic protective layer may include one of acryl,polyimide (PI), polyamide (PA), and benzocyclobutene (BCB). The organicprotective layer may be a transparent and flexible planarizing layercapable of reducing a curve of an understructure and planarizing theunderstructure.

The OLED may be disposed on the third insulating layer 143 and may beelectrically connected to the drain electrode DE.

The OLED may be one of a rear emission type OLED, a front emission typeOLED, and a double-side emission type OLED in accordance with anemission type. According to the current embodiment, for conveniencesake, the OLED is illustrated as being the rear emission type OLED.

The OLED includes a first electrode 144 that is a transmissive electrodecapable of transmitting light, an organic light emitting layer 146disposed on the first electrode 144, and a second electrode 147 that isdisposed on the organic light emitting layer 146. The second electrode147 may be a reflective electrode capable of reflecting light.

The first electrode 144 may be connected to the drain electrode DE. Thefirst electrode 144 may be a conductive layer including a transparentconductive oxide such as an indium tin oxide (ITO), an indium zinc oxide(IZO), an aluminum zinc oxide (AZO), a gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO), azinc tin oxide (ZTO), a gallium tin oxide (GTO), or a fluorine doped tinoxide (FTO). A pixel defining layer 145 may be arranged on the firstelectrode 144.

The pixel defining layer 145 may include an opening that exposes a partof the first electrode 144. The pixel defining layer 145 may include anorganic insulating material. The organic light emitting layer 146 may bearranged on the first electrode 144 exposed by the pixel defining layer145.

The organic light emitting layer 146 may include at least a lightemitting layer. In some implementations, the organic light emittinglayer 146 may have a multilayer thin film structure. The secondelectrode 147 may be arranged on the organic light emitting layer 146.

The second electrode 147 may include a material having a lower workfunction than the first electrode 144, for example, at least one amongMo, W, Ag, magnesium (Mg), Al, Pt, palladium (Pd), gold (Au), Ni, Nd,iridium (Ir), Cr, calcium (Ca), and an alloy of Mo, W, Ag, Mg, Al, Pt,Pd, Au, Ni, Nd, Ir, Cr, and Ca.

The first barrier layer 150 may be disposed on the display device array140. The first barrier layer 150 may have such a structure so as tocover the display device array 140.

The first barrier layer 150 may include first and second organic layers151 and 153 and first and second inorganic layers 152 and 154. The firstand second organic layers 151 and 153 and the first and second inorganiclayers 152 and 154 may be alternately laminated. For example, the firstorganic layer 151 may be disposed on the OLED, the first inorganic layer152 is disposed on the first organic layer 151, the second organic layer153 is disposed on the first inorganic layer 152, and the secondinorganic layer 154 may be disposed on the second organic layer 153.

The first and second organic layers 151 and 153 may be formed of a highmolecular organic compound. For example, the first and second organiclayers 151 and 153 may include one of epoxy, acrylate, andurethaneacrylate. The first and second organic layers 151 and 153 maysupplement a defect of the first and second inorganic layers 152 and 154and may planarize the first and second inorganic layers 152 and 154.

The first and second inorganic layers 152 and 154 may be formed of ametal oxide, a metal nitride, a metal carbide, or a combination of themetal oxide, the metal nitride, and the metal carbide. For example, thefirst and second inorganic layers 152 and 154 may be formed of analuminum oxide, a silicon oxide, or a silicon nitride. As anotherexample, the first and second inorganic layers 152 and 154 may include alamination structure of a plurality of inorganic insulating layers. Thefirst and second inorganic layers 152 and 154 may help to preventexternal moisture and/or oxygen from permeating into the OLED.

The touch unit 200 may adhere to the first barrier layer 150 having sucha structure through an adhesive 300 to face the first barrier layer 150.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the touch unit 200 may include a sacrificiallayer 220 and a touch array 210 disposed on the sacrificial layer 220.For convenience sake, the touch array 210 is described first herein, andthen, the sacrificial layer 220 is described.

The touch array 210 may include a first touch electrode 211 and a secondtouch electrode 213 that are disposed on the sacrificial layer 220. Thefirst touch electrode 211 and the second touch electrode 213 mayintersect each other with a first touch array insulating layer 212interposed therebetween. A second touch array insulating layer 214 maybe formed to cover the second touch electrode 213. The touch array 210may be driven by a mutual capacitance method in which a change incapacitance caused by an interaction between the first touch electrode211 and the second touch electrode 213 is sensed.

Materials, shapes, and arrangement structures of the first touchelectrode 211 and the second touch electrode 213 may have variousmodifications in accordance with a touch sensing type of the flexibledisplay device. For example, the first touch electrode 211 may be formedof a plurality of sensing electrode rows connected in one direction andparallel with each other. The second touch electrode 213 may be formedof a plurality of sensing electrode columns intersecting the pluralityof sensing electrode rows and parallel with each other. The first touchelectrode 211 and the second touch electrode 213 may be disposed indifferent layers as illustrated in the drawing. In some implementations,the first touch electrode 211 and the second touch electrode 213 may bedisposed in the same layer.

The plurality of sensing electrode rows provided in the first touchelectrode 211 or the plurality of sensing electrodes columns provided inthe second touch electrode 213 may be spaced apart from each other andmay be connected through a bridge.

The sacrificial layer 220 may be disposed under the first touchelectrode 211. The first sacrificial layer 220 may include at least oneinorganic material such as oxidized molybdenum (MoO₃), lead zirconatetitanate (PZT), gallium nitride (GaN), or an amorphous silicon (a-Si)based material.

The sacrificial layer 220 may be formed, for example, by an atomic layerdeposition (ALD) method or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method.

The touch unit 200 may further include a third organic layer 230disposed under the sacrificial layer 220. The third organic layer 230may be disposed on the sacrificial layer 220 after the touch unit 200 isadhered to the display unit 100. The third organic layer 230 may help toprevent oxygen and moisture from being received from the outside to thesacrificial layer 220. The third organic layer 230 may be coated onto arear surface of the sacrificial layer 220 by an inkjet method.

A structure of a flexible display device according to an embodiment isdescribed above. Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a flexibledisplay device according to an embodiment will be described.

FIGS. 5 through 12 illustrate cross-sectional views depicting stages ofa method of manufacturing a flexible display device according to anembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5, a first sacrificial layer 410 is disposed on afirst supporting substrate 400 a formed of glass. A base substrate 120is disposed on the first sacrificial layer 410.

The first sacrificial layer 410 may fix the first supporting substrate400 a and the base substrate 120. The first sacrificial layer 410 mayinclude a material that is capable of being easily stripped by laser ina subsequent stripping process.

The base substrate 120 may be a plastic film formed by coating a polymersolution onto the first sacrificial layer 410 by a slit coating methodor a spin coating method and hardening the polymer solution. The plasticfilm may be formed of at least one organic material selected frompolyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethylene terephthalate (PET),polyethylene etherphthalate, polycarbonate, polyarylate, polyetherimide,polyether sulfonate, polyimide, and polyacrylate.

The buffer layer 130 may be disposed on the base substrate 120. Thebuffer layer 130 may improve adhesion between the display device array140 formed by a subsequent process and the base substrate 120 and mayprevent moisture or impurities generated by the base substrate 120 frombeing diffused into the display device array 140.

The second barrier layer 110 may be disposed on the rear surface of thebase substrate 120. The second barrier layer 110 may be disposed betweenthe base substrate 120 and the first sacrificial layer 410. The secondbarrier layer 110 may prevent impurities from being received to the rearsurface of the base substrate 120 when the base substrate 120 isstripped from the first supporting substrate 400 a by a subsequentstripping process.

Referring to FIG. 6, the display device array 140 is disposed on thebuffer layer 130. The display device array 140 may include a thin filmtransistor (TFT) including a semiconductor layer, a gate electrode, asource electrode, and a drain electrode and an OLED electricallyconnected to the TFT.

The semiconductor layer may be disposed on the buffer layer 130 and afirst insulating layer is disposed on the semiconductor layer. Then, thegate electrode may be disposed on the first insulating layer to overlapa channel region of the semiconductor layer and a second insulatinglayer is disposed on the gate electrode. Then, the source electrode andthe drain electrode, spaced apart from each other by a uniform distance,may be formed on the second insulating layer.

A third insulating layer may be disposed on the TFT to cover the TFT.The third insulating layer may planarize the base substrate 120 on whichthe TFT is provided. A first electrode may be disposed on the thirdinsulating layer. A pixel defining layer that exposes a part of thefirst electrode may be provided. An organic light emitting layer may bedisposed on the exposed first electrode. A second electrode is disposedon the organic light emitting layer.

Referring to FIG. 7, the first barrier layer 150 may be disposed on thedisplay device array 140. The first barrier layer 150 may include aplurality of organic layers and a plurality of inorganic layers.

Referring to FIG. 8, a second sacrificial layer 220 may be disposed on asecond supporting substrate 400 b formed of glass. The touch array 210may be disposed on the second sacrificial layer 220. The secondsacrificial layer 220 may be the same as the sacrificial layer 220illustrated in FIG. 2. For convenience sake, in discussing the method ofmanufacturing a flexible display device, the sacrificial layer 220 isreferred to as the “second sacrificial layer” to distinguish from thefirst sacrificial layer 410, which is used in the method ofmanufacturing the flexible display device, but is not present in themanufactured flexible display device.

The second supporting substrate 400 b may have a larger energy bandvalue than an energy band gap of a laser such that a transmittance oflaser energy irradiated onto the second supporting substrate 400 b maybe high in a laser lift off (LLO) process described below.

The second sacrificial layer 220 may include a material different fromthe first sacrificial layer (410 of FIG. 7). For example, the secondsacrificial layer 220 may include at least one among MoO₃, PZT, GaN, andan a-Si based inorganic material.

The second sacrificial layer 220 may be formed on the second supportingsubstrate 400 b by an ALD method or a CVD method.

For example, when the second sacrificial layer 220 includes a thin filmformed of a MoO₃ based inorganic material, the second sacrificial layer220 may be formed on the second supporting substrate 400 b by the ALDmethod using Mo(CO)₆, ozone, or water as a precursor.

In some implementations, when the second sacrificial layer 220 includesthe thin film formed of the MoO₃ based inorganic material, the secondsacrificial layer 220 may be formed on the second supporting substrate400 b by a CVD method using Mo(CO)₆ as the precursor and in which amixed gas of Ar and O₂ is used.

The thickness of the sacrificial layer 220 may vary in accordance withthe kind of material used. The second sacrificial layer 220 may have athickness of, for example, about 1,000 Å through 3,000 Å. In someimplementations, the second sacrificial layer 220 may have a thicknessno less than 2,000 Å, such that the second sacrificial layer 220 maysecure light transmissivity of no less than 90%.

The touch array 210 may be disposed on the second sacrificial layer 220including the inorganic material. The touch array 210 may include afirst touch electrode disposed on the second sacrificial layer 220, afirst insulating layer disposed on the first touch electrode, a secondtouch electrode disposed on the first insulating layer, and a secondinsulating layer disposed on the second touch electrode.

Referring to FIG. 9, the first supporting substrate 400 a may be adheredto the second supporting substrate 400 b through the adhesive 300 suchthat the first supporting substrate and the second supporting substrateface each other. Here, the adhesive 300 may include an adhesive materialhardened by heat.

Referring to FIG. 10, the second supporting substrate 400 b and thesecond sacrificial layer 220 may be separated from each other at aninterface by the LLO process. When laser energy is irradiated onto thesecond supporting substrate 400 b, when the energy band gap of thesecond supporting substrate 400 b is larger than a wavelength of thelaser, the irradiated laser may easily pass through the secondsupporting substrate 400 b. The second supporting substrate 400 b andthe second sacrificial layer 220 may be separated by the laserirradiation. Thereafter, the second sacrificial layer 220 may remain onthe touch array 210.

The second sacrificial layer 220 that remains on the touch array 210 mayhelp protect the touch array 210 and may help prevent external moistureand oxygen from being received by the touch array 210.

For example, the second sacrificial layer 220 may be formed of a thinfilm including an inorganic material. Accordingly, it may be possible tosecure transparency in comparison with the case in which an organiclayer is formed on the supporting substrate and the touch array isformed on the organic layer. It may also be possible to prevent a gasgenerated by the organic layer from affecting the touch array. Inaddition, when the second sacrificial layer 220 is formed of theinorganic material, the touch array 210 disposed on the secondsacrificial layer 220 may not be affected by surface roughness of thesecond sacrificial layer 220. Therefore, reliability of the touch array210 may improve.

Referring to FIG. 11, laser energy may be irradiated to a rear surfaceof the first supporting substrate 400 a. When the laser is irradiated tothe first supporting substrate 400 a, the first sacrificial layer 410may lose adhesion due to the energy of the laser beam such that thefirst sacrificial layer 410 may be separated from a rear surface of thesecond barrier layer 110.

Here, as illustrated in the FIG. 11, the stripping process of the firstsupporting substrate 400 a may be performed after the stripping processof the second supporting substrate 400 b. In some implementations, thestripping process of the first supporting substrate 400 a may beperformed before the stripping process of the second supportingsubstrate 400 b.

Referring to FIG. 12, after the stripping process of the firstsupporting substrate (400 a of FIG. 11) and the stripping process of thesecond supporting substrate (400 b of FIG. 10) are performed, aprotective layer 230 may be disposed on the second sacrificial layer220.

The protective layer 230 is the same as the third organic layer 230illustrated in FIG. 2. For convenience sake, since first and secondorganic layers are not illustrated in FIG. 12, a different term from thethird organic layer 230 is used.

The protective layer 230 may be formed of an organic layer and may becoated on the second sacrificial layer 220 by the inkjet method. Theprotective layer 230 may release internal stress of the secondsacrificial layer 220 or may planarize the second sacrificial layer 220.

By way of summation and review, a flexible substrate may be formed ofplastic or resin. Plastic or resin is vulnerable to heat. Therefore,there is a risk that the flexible substrate may be transformed bysubsequent processes in which structures (for example, a touch array, athin film transistor (TFT) array, and an organic light emitting diode(OLED), etc.) are formed on the flexible substrate. In order to addressthis issue, a technology of fixing the flexible substrate to asupporting substrate and then, stripping the flexible substrate from thesupporting substrate when processes are completed has been introduced.However, in such a case, there is a risk that a surface of the flexiblesubstrate may be damaged by the stripping process.

A technology of attaching an organic layer onto the supporting substrateand forming structures on the organic layer without directly attachingthe flexible substrate to the supporting substrate has been developed.In such a case, a gas is generated by the organic layer while performingprocesses of manufacturing the structures so that the structures may beaffected by the gas and shapes of the structures may be affected bysurface roughness of the organic layer.

Embodiments relate to a flexible display device and a method ofmanufacturing the same.

In the flexible display device manufactured according to embodiments,use of the organic layer is minimized when the touch array is disposedon the supporting substrate, such that it is possible to prevent the gasgenerated by the organic layer from being received by the touch array.Transparency is secured such that it is possible to improve reliability.

Example embodiments have been disclosed herein, and although specificterms are employed, they are used and are to be interpreted in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation. In someinstances, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art asof the filing of the present application, features, characteristics,and/or elements described in connection with a particular embodiment maybe used singly or in combination with features, characteristics, and/orelements described in connection with other embodiments unless otherwisespecifically indicated. Accordingly, it will be understood by those ofskill in the art that various changes in form and details may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A flexible display device comprising: a displayunit configured to display an image, and including: a base substrate; adisplay device array on the base substrate; and a first barrier layer onthe display device array; a touch unit on the display unit; and anadhesive between the display unit and the touch unit, wherein the touchunit includes a touch array on the adhesive, a sacrificial layer on thetouch array, and an organic layer disposed on the sacrificial layer,wherein the sacrificial layer includes at least one selected from thegroup of oxidized molybdenum (MoO3), lead zirconate titanate (PZT), andgallium nitride (GaN), wherein the sacrificial layer includes a firstsurface in contact with the touch array and a second surface opposite tothe first surface, and wherein the organic layer is directly provided onthe second surface of the sacrificial layer and protects the sacrificiallayer.
 2. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein thetouch array includes: a first touch electrode that extends in a firstdirection; and a second touch electrode that extends in a seconddirection that intersects the first direction.
 3. The flexible displaydevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display device array includes:a TFT on the base substrate; a first electrode on the TFT; an organiclight emitting layer on the first electrode; and a second electrode onthe organic light emitting layer.
 4. The flexible display device asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the first barrier layer includes: a firstorganic layer on the second electrode; a first inorganic layer on thefirst organic layer; a second organic layer on the first inorganiclayer; and a second inorganic layer between the second organic layer andthe adhesive.
 5. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 1,wherein a thickness of the sacrificial layer is 1,000 A through 3,000 A.6. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 1, further comprisinga second barrier layer under the base substrate.